Our friends at NORAD and USNORTHCOM Graphics did a video story on the 55th anniversary of NORAD. You can watch it on our YouTube channel.
The official blog of NORAD and USNORTHCOM
NORAD at 55: Forever relevant, ever evolving
The following is an op-ed by NORAD and USNORTHCOM Commander Gen. Chuck Jacoby on the 55th anniversary of NORAD.
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – North American Aerospace Defense Command leadership and members of the Canadian government cut the NORAD 55th anniversary cake during a ceremony at the command’s headquarters here May 9, 2013. From left to right: Jack Harris, vice chair of the Canadian Standing Committee on National Defence; Army Gen. Chuck Jacoby, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command; James Bezan, Chairman of the NDDN; Marcy Grossman, Consul General of Canada in Denver; and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Alain Parent, deputy commander of NORAD.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher)
On May 12, 1958, the U.S. and Canada formalized an agreement that created the “North American Air Defense Command,” or NORAD, headquartered here in Colorado Springs. This bi-national command, centralizing operational control of continental air defenses against the threat of Soviet bombers, has grown and evolved since then to include all aerospace threats (the name was changed to “North American Aerospace Defense Command in 1981), as well as maritime warning. More importantly, for the past 55 years it has endured as the foundation of our strong security relationship with our neighbor to the north.
Posted in History, NORAD
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Canadian special forces tearing up Emerald Warrior
NORAD is probably the most visible example of U.S. and Canadian forces working together, but it’s far from the only one. Check out these pictures of Canadian special forces troops participating in Exercise EMERALD WARRIOR down in Hurlburt Field, Fla.
These guys don’t track Santa Claus.
5/6/2013 – Canadian special operation regiment members call in close air support from their U.S. Air Force allies during Emerald Warrior 2013, Hurlburt Field, Fla., April 26. The primary purpose of Emerald Warrior is to exercise special operations components in urban and irregular warfare settings to support combatant commanders. Emerald Warrior leverages lessons from Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operation Enduring Freedom and other historical lessons to provide better trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch)(Released)
Canadian special operations service members travel aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft over Hurlburt Field, Fla., April 29, 2013, to conduct a high-altitude, high-opening jump for Emerald Warrior 2013. Emerald Warrior is an annual two-week joint/combined tactical exercise sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command designed to leverage lessons learned from operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom to provide trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin/Released)
Canadian special operation regiment members conduct a freefall jump out of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III during Emerald Warrior 2013, Hurlburt Field, Fla., April 28. The primary purpose of Emerald Warrior is to exercise special operations components in urban and irregular warfare settings to support combatant commanders. Emerald Warrior leverages lessons from Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operation Enduring Freedom and other historical lessons to provide better trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Matthew Bruch)(Released)
Canadian special operations service members travel aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft over Hurlburt Field, Fla., April 29, 2013, to conduct a high-altitude, high-opening jump for Emerald Warrior 2013. Emerald Warrior is an annual two-week joint/combined tactical exercise sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command designed to leverage lessons learned from operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom to provide trained and ready forces to combatant commanders. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Andy M. Kin/Released)
Posted in Canada, Uncategorized
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Canadian Minister of National Defence wishes NORAD a happy anniversary
NORAD celebrated its 55th anniversary today, and Canadian Minister of National Defence
Peter MacKay issued a release congratulating us on five-and-a-half decades of defending the United States and Canada.
“Fifty-five years ago today the NORAD Agreement was first signed by the governments of Canada and the United States. NORAD has since served the citizens of both countries as the first line of defence against air attack on their homelands.
NORAD has proven itself highly effective in its roles of deterring, detecting and defending against potential threats by monitoring and tracking man-made objects in space including aircrafts, missiles, satellites and space debris.
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A Service to the Community, and Nothing More
The following is a post from Capt. Jeff Davis, Director of NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs.
Usually, the NORAD Tracks Santa program is a hard place to find controversy. It’s done by volunteers, it uses no taxpayer money, it’s supported by corporate partners who receive nothing in return, and it gives children around the world a little extra holiday cheer.
But a couple of changes we made in the program this year have some people scratching their heads and wondering if there is something nefarious going on. (Spoiler alert: there’s not).
NORAD Tracks Santa with the Help of Partners
The following is a post from Capt. Jeff Davis, Director of NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs.
It’s hard to believe it all started with a typo.
A program renowned the world over – one that brings in thousands of volunteers, prominent figures such as the First Lady of the United States, and one that has been going on for more than five decades – all started as a misprint.
That error ran in a local Colorado Springs newspaper back in 1955 after a local department store printed an advertisement with an incorrect phone number that children could use to “call Santa.” Except that someone goofed. Or someone mistook a three for an eight. Maybe elves broke into the newspaper and changed the number. We’ll never know.
But somehow, the number in the advertisement changed, and instead of reaching the “Santa” on call for the local department store, it rang at the desk of the Crew Commander on duty at the Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center, the organization that would one day become the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or “NORAD.”
And when the commander on duty, Col. Harry Shoup, first picked up the phone and heard kids asking for Santa, he could have told them they had a wrong number.
But he didn’t.
Instead, the kind-hearted colonel asked his crew to play along and find Santa’s location. Just like that, NORAD was in the Santa-tracking business.
Colonel Shoup probably had no way of knowing what he had started. Fast forward 57 years later, and NORAD is still tracking Santa, and with the help of technology and our generous contributors – including Microsoft, Analytical Graphics Inc., Verizon, Visionbox and more than 50 others – the ability for people around the world to follow Santa’s journey has grown in ways no one could have imagined back in 1955.
This year, nearly 25 million people around the world are expected to follow Santa’s journey in real-time on the Web, on their mobile devices, by e-mail and by phone. This combination of new and old technologies is essential to helping NORAD keep up with the incredible demand for Santa tracking that grows each year.
To put the program into perspective, last year the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center volunteers in Colorado Springs received more than 102,000 calls, 7,721 e-mails and reached nearly 20 million people in more than 220 countries around the world through the www.noradsanta.org website. With the help of a worldwide network of partners, military and civilian volunteers, and thanks to the special friendship between the U.S. and Canada, NORAD will be able to reach even more people this year.
Starting at 12 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, website visitors can watch Santa make the preparations for his flight. Then, at 4:00 a.m. MST (6:00 a.m. EST), trackers worldwide can speak with a live phone operator to inquire as to Santa’s whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an e-mail to noradtrackssanta@outlook.com. NORAD’s “Santa Cams” will also stream videos as Santa makes his way over various locations throughout the world.
It’s a big job, and we can’t do it alone, but the holidays have always been a time for bringing people together. With the help of our industry partners and friends in Canada, the tradition that started as a mistake will live on again this year.
If you would like to track Santa, visit www.noradsanta.org or visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/noradsanta.
Capt. Jeff Davis
Director, NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs
This is what loyalty looks like
Take a look at this photo posted to the First Army Division East’s Facebook page. This Soldier is standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetary while Hurricane Sandy blows through. From the caption:
Spc. Brett Hyde, Tomb Sentinel, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), keeps guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Sandy at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Oct. 29, 2012. Hyde lives by the Sentinel’s Creed which in part says “Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability”. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Jose A. Torres Jr.) — with Kim Wade Midlam.
The Tomb has been guarded continuously since 1948. Something tells me this isn’t the year where that changes.
TSgt. T.J. Doscher
NORAD’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an incident that nearly sparked World War III. It started when Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev looked across the Black Sea at the missiles NATO was stationing in Turkey and decided that it was terribly unfair for NATO to have missiles in his backyard while he had nothing in the western hemisphere. Light bulbs went off, the Good Idea Fairy made a visit to the Kremlin and before long people in the White House were looking at surveillance photos and noting to one another how missiles that look like that shouldn’t be in Cuba.
There are tons of great works on the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the blockade and how the Strategic Air Command was preparing for an all out nuclear war. But what was NORAD doing this week 50 years ago?
U.S. Northern Command celebrates 10 years
By Gen. Charles H. Jacoby
Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the founding of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Since August of 2011, it has been my privilege to lead the dedicated men and women of this command, along with our partner unit for homeland defense, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the robust bi-national security command shared with Canada for more than 54 years. With memories of 9/11 still etched in America’s consciousness, and during this remarkable time of transition across the globe, it is fitting to mark this 10th anniversary for USNORTHCOM. We do this not only with admiration and appreciation for the successes or all agencies responsible for the security of the nation over the past decade, but with reflective acknowledgement of the challenges that remain.
Canadian NORAD member “double taps” marksman award
In a recent post, I poked a little fun at my Canadian brethren. In response, one of our Canadian officers showed me this story about Capt. Ken Barling winning the Queen’s Medal for Champion Shot for marksmanship two years in a row and subtly reminding me that there are Canadians in this building who could, if they wanted to, take me out from another zip code.
Well met, Sir. Well met.
The Canadian Forces Small Arms Concentration competition has been going on in one form or another since 1869, and the Queen’s Medal for Champion Shot is the highest prize awarded there. Two medals have been awarded since 1991, one to a regular CF member and the other to the reserves or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Barling came home with: